2014 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis tags out Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout at home during the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game Thursday, March 6, 2014, in Tempe, Ariz. Trout tried to stretch a triple into an inside the park home run. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
The Associated Press

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis tags out Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout at home during the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game Thursday, March 6, 2014, in Tempe, Ariz. Trout tried to stretch a triple into an inside the park home run. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Which means draft day is right around the corner so it's time to get prepared. ESPN's Mock Draft Lobby is a useful tool. I was joined by seven other humans, and four machines.

(Not sure why the Wachowskis left our future overlord's love of fantasy sports out of the Matrix Trilogy.)

Without further ado, here's my 2014 fantasy baseball mock draft:

Round: 1

(1) Team VALDES - Prince Fielder 1B

(2) Team Laffoon - Mike Trout CF

(3) Team Morrisette - Miguel Cabrera 3B

(4) Team 4 - Andrew McCutchen CF

(5) Team 5 - Paul Goldschmidt 1B

(6) Team 6 - Chris Davis 1B

(7) Team Keeler - Robinson Cano 2B

(8) Team 8 - Carlos Gonzalez LF

(9) Team fletcher - Jacoby Ellsbury CF

(10) Team Doss - Edwin Encarnacion 1B

(11) Team Stipp - Ryan Braun LF

(12) Team Brown - Clayton Kershaw SP

Notes: Team VALDES must be a Rangers fan! Trout is the best player on the planet, whether it's real, fantasy or video games. I won't have any discussion on the subject, and that's not simply because he's helped me win back-to-back league championships. It's because he has just finished putting together the best two-year start to a career in the history of the sport, and he appears to be getting better in the process. Team Stipp has some testicular fortitude, drafting Braun in the first round. It's hard to question his skills, but his body has started to betray him. I owned him in 2012, and he was on the verge of missing significant time all year. I was lucky he didn't. He no longer has the "juice" to protect him. My strategy is too draft one or two pitchers in the top half of the draft, and load up on offense. There's always good value with pitchers later in the draft, but the key to making this work is making sure the two pitchers you grab early are aces. Kershaw is the Trout of pitching.

Round: 2

(13) Team Brown - Bryce Harper LF

(14) Team Stipp - Troy Tulowitzki SS

(15) Team Doss - Adrian Beltre 3B

(16) Team fletcher - Adam Jones CF

(17) Team 8 - Carlos Gomez CF

(18) Team Keeler - Hanley Ramirez SS

(19) Team 6 - Jason Kipnis 2B

(20) Team 5 - David Wright 3B

(21) Team 4 - Yu Darvish SP

(22) Team Morrisette - Joey Votto 1B

(23) Team Laffoon - Dustin Pedroia 2B

(24) Team VALDES - Adam Wainwright SP

Notes: Harper's season last year was a tease. Get ready to spend for his breakout campaign in D.C. Not only has he added a ridiculous amount of muscle to his frame, he seems more relaxed so far this Spring. Remember, his Wins Above Replacement through his age-20 season (9.0) is the fourth most of anyone in baseball history, behind only Trout, Mel Ott and Ty Cobb. Something special is coming. Cano will get drafted higher, but Kipnis has supplanted him as the best second baseman in fantasy. He batted 93 points and slugged 198 points higher against left-handers than he did in 2012. He increased his overall walk rate from 10.0 to 11.6 percent, and he was the third least-likely to swing at a pitch outside the strike zone in baseball (17.4 percent rate). In the process, Kipnis became the sixth-youngest second baseman in history to manage a 15/30 season.

Round: 3

(25) Team VALDES - Evan Longoria 3B

(26) Team Laffoon - Ian Desmond SS

(27) Team Morrisette - Cliff Lee SP

(28) Team 4 - Alex Rios RF

(29) Team 5 - Yasiel Puig RF

(30) Team 6 - Ian Kinsler 2B

(31) Team Keeler - Giancarlo Stanton RF

(32) Team 8 - Jose Reyes SS

(33) Team fletcher - Felix Hernandez SP

(34) Team Doss - Freddie Freeman 1B

(35) Team Stipp - Stephen Strasburg SP

(36) Team Brown - Josh Donaldson 3B

Notes: Donaldson wasn't a fluke last season. His average might take a dip this year, but with his walk-rate gains last season, it should be minimal. Strasburg + no innings limit = No. 2 starter in fantasy behind Kershaw.

Round: 4

(37) Team Brown - Eric Hosmer 1B

(38) Team Stipp - Shin-Soo Choo CF

(39) Team Doss - Max Scherzer SP

(40) Team fletcher - David Price SP

(41) Team 8 - Chris Sale SP

(42) Team Keeler - Justin Verlander SP

(43) Team 6 - Buster Posey C

(44) Team 5 - David Ortiz DH

(45) Team 4 - Elvis Andrus SS

(46) Team Morrisette - Justin Upton LF

(47) Team Laffoon - Jay Bruce RF

(48) Team VALDES - Jose Bautista RF

Notes: I reached on Hosmer, but trust me, the kid is the truth. I full believe he's capable of carrying over the breakthroughs he had last year to this season. From June 1 on, he batted .318 with 16 home runs in 109 games, thanks to an all-fields approach that countered some of the defensive shifts he had faced earlier in his career. If he takes a step forward in the power department, he's worth a Top 40 pick. 180 starts, 1,243⅔ innings or 20,264 pitches thrown from 2009-12 (playoffs included) - all major league highs - have me weary of Verlander.

Round: 5

(49) Team VALDES - Madison Bumgarner SP

(50) Team Laffoon - Craig Kimbrel RP

(51) Team Morrisette - Yadier Molina C

(52) Team 4 - Albert Pujols 1B

(53) Team 5 - Jose Fernandez SP

(54) Team 6 - Adrian Gonzalez 1B

(55) Team Keeler - Ryan Zimmerman 3B

(56) Team 8 - Zack Greinke SP

(57) Team fletcher - Brandon Phillips 2B

(58) Team Doss - Aroldis Chapman RP

(59) Team Stipp - Kenley Jansen RP

(60) Team Brown - Matt Carpenter 2B

Note: Carpenter is a steal here, especially considering his position versatility. I'm willing to take a chance on Pujols, just not this high. Maybe closer to the 10th. His home run total, batting average, on-base percentage and OPS have all declined in each season since 2008. He is following the natural downslope of a career that a slugger faces, and the history of comparable Hall of Fame talents isn't positive. At 34 years old, many of them had productive seasons, but hardly numbers worthy of MVP votes.

Round: 6

(61) Team Brown - Joe Mauer C

(62) Team Stipp - Yoenis Cespedes LF

(63) Team Doss - Allen Craig 1B

(64) Team fletcher - Ben Zobrist 2B

(65) Team 8 - Hunter Pence RF

(66) Team Keeler - Anibal Sanchez SP

(67) Team 6 - Starling Marte LF

(68) Team 5 - Greg Holland RP

(69) Team 4 - Mike Minor SP

(70) Team Morrisette - Kyle Seager 3B

(71) Team Laffoon - Starlin Castro SS

(72) Team VALDES - Matt Cain SP

Note: Minnesota has finally wised up, and moved Mauer to first base. He should, however, retain his catcher eligibility through this season. His .323 career batting average is tops among active players, and I fully expect him to add a fourth batting title to his Hall of Fame resume. I expect Cain to rebound big time. He gave up a homer on 10.8 percent of the fly balls he allowed, an increase of more than 3 percent and a change that can influence a pitcher's ERA by as much as a half-run. Seems fluky to me.

Round: 7

(73) Team VALDES - Matt Holliday LF

(74) Team Laffoon - Jean Segura SS

(75) Team Morrisette - Matt Kemp CF

(76) Team 4 - Homer Bailey SP

(77) Team 5 - Carlos Santana C

(78) Team 6 - Carlos Beltran RF

(79) Team Keeler - Aramis Ramirez 3B

(80) Team 8 - Wil Myers RF

(81) Team fletcher - Jason Heyward RF

(82) Team Doss - Jose Altuve 2B

(83) Team Stipp - James Shields SP

(84) Team Brown - Doug Fister SP

Note: Kemp is much too risky to be taken this high. I'm all in on Nationals pitchers this season. I'd rank their top four starters in the Top 25. I'm not sure anyone else comes close to this. Since the date of Fister's first major league start (Aug. 11, 2009), he has the majors' fourth-best walk rate (4.8 percent) and walks-per-nine ratio (1.81), as well as the highest swing rate on non-strikes (38.4 percent) and the second-best called-strike rate (38.4 percent), behind only Cliff Lee. Plus, he's finally rid of Detroit's porous defense.

Round: 8

(85) Team Brown - Desmond Jennings CF

(86) Team Stipp - Mark Trumbo 1B

(87) Team Doss - Jayson Werth RF

(88) Team fletcher - Mat Latos SP

(89) Team 8 - Jonathan Lucroy C

(90) Team Keeler - Alex Gordon LF

(91) Team 6 - Jordan Zimmermann SP

(92) Team 5 - Gio Gonzalez SP

(93) Team 4 - Kris Medlen SP

(94) Team Morrisette - Jered Weaver SP

(95) Team Laffoon - Masahiro Tanaka SP

(96) Team VALDES - Shelby Miller SP

Note: Tanaka pitched 1,315 innings through his age 24 season in Japan. The only pitcher to pitch as much in the Majors: Felix Hernandez. The 27-year-old Jennings still has time to take another step, still double-digit homers and almost 30 steals will do just fine in the eighth round.

Round: 9

(97) Team VALDES - Josh Hamilton RF

(98) Team Laffoon - Gerrit Cole SP

(99) Team Morrisette - Chase Utley 2B

(100) Team 4 - Pedro Alvarez 3B

(101) Team 5 - Michael Cuddyer RF

(102) Team 6 - Aaron Hill 2B

(103) Team Keeler - Wilin Rosario C

(104) Team 8 - Shane Victorino RF

(105) Team fletcher - Anthony Rizzo 1B

(106) Team Doss - Billy Butler DH

(107) Team Stipp - Brett Lawrie 3B

(108) Team Brown - Everth Cabrera SS

Note: Cabrera was a Top 5 shortstop at the time of his PED suspension last year. Cole could end up the steal of this round. Cole's combination of high-90s fastball and nasty slider are rarely matched, and he concluded his 2013 debut season in the majors with a 2.31 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in his final nine starts. He's certainly performed like you'd expect a former No. 1 overall selection to perform.

Round: 10

(109) Team Brown - Brian McCann C

(110) Team Stipp - Domonic Brown LF

(111) Team Doss - Will Venable RF

(112) Team fletcher - Manny Machado 3B

(113) Team 8 - Martin Prado 3B

(114) Team Keeler - Matt Adams 1B

(115) Team 6 - Alex Cobb SP

(116) Team 5 - Trevor Rosenthal RP

(117) Team 4 - Mike Napoli 1B

(118) Team Morrisette - J.J. Hardy SS

(119) Team Laffoon - Brandon Moss 1B

(120) Team VALDES - Chase Headley 3B

Note: McCann is one of the game's more consistent power sources. He is one of only 11 players to have hit at least 20 home runs in each of the past six seasons, and the only one to have hit between 20-25 in each. Plus, keep in mind he scaled the 20-homer plateau in 2013 despite missing the first month recovering from shoulder surgery. Thanks to him playing half his games in the lefty Mecca Yankee Stadium, one of my locks is McCann reaching 30 homers.

Round: 11

(121) Team VALDES - Alexei Ramirez SS

(122) Team Laffoon - Joe Nathan RP

(123) Team Morrisette - Daniel Murphy 2B

(124) Team 4 - Hyun-Jin Ryu SP

(125) Team 5 - Matt Moore SP

(126) Team 6 - Hisashi Iwakuma SP

(127) Team Keeler - Koji Uehara RP

(128) Team 8 - Brandon Belt 1B

(129) Team fletcher - Julio Teheran SP

(130) Team Doss - Sergio Romo RP

(131) Team Stipp - Jeff Samardzija SP

(132) Team Brown - Pablo Sandoval 3B

Note: The pitchers chosen in this round are proof my strategy of loading up on offense early and often can easily work.